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Richard Arker
Richard is one of the main characters and the founder of The Vagabonds. He is a Hunter Conclave Ranger. Appearance In his younger days described in his backstory, Richard was a rather plain, fit looking young man with long, barely kempt hair and clean shaven. His most common attire would have been the tan explorer's coat shown in the image as well as long, tan, loosely fitting pants and brown boots to top it off. As far as his clothing choices go, not much has changed, although in combat he adopts a hard leather combat suit. His hair has grown longer and is severely less kempt, and he tends to have a quite a bit of stubble, but never grows full on facial hair. Personality Richard is generally disconnected from other people, generally preferring to work on things alone. Because of this he often comes off as cruel on uncaring, where as apathy would be a more befitting description. When he was younger he had a big fascination with exploring forests and all sorts of other natural locales, and the skills he developed from those days have not left him. He is also notably slow to make friends, but rather quick to fall for a woman he has befriended, considering how quickly he developed a romantic interest in Mindy Therren. However, he is also quite shy when it comes to romance and struggles to understand or even bring up the topic. After the events in The Frozen Pines, Richard developed a knack for manipulating and using people, as well as acting. He would go on to use these abilities in order to form The Vagabonds. Relationships Past * Mindy Therren: Best friend and romantic interest. They first met when she was assigned his partner for a job from the GES. At first he hated her for how much she talked, but after she apologized and told him that she would request that they longer be partners, he felt guilty and told the Guild Masters instead that he wanted her to be his permanent partner. Afterwards the two quickly become friends, bonding over their love of exploration, as well as Mindy's own theories about life beyond Anadac. Mindy would be the one to give him the nickname, "Gardy," and he in return would give her the nickname, "Winny." It was about this time that he began to realize his love for her. After the events of The Frozen Pines, Richard has constantly been searching for Mindy, in hopes that she's still alive and that he may find her and finally confess his feelings to her. The Vagabonds * Alaska Culberson: Friend. On first meeting, Richard particularly appreciated Alaska for her openly appreciating his theory about life beyond Anadac. Since then she's consistently been his favorite member of his crew. When they shared the tales of their history after Alaska confronted him about being secretive, they made a pact that they would help each other find their lost loves. Since then Richard's appreciation of her as grown, first citing her as, "the closest thing he's had to a friend in a decade," and finally accepting her as a friend. * Akira: Akira was one of the original hired men of Richard's. The two didn't share much of a bond, and after Akira's meltdown during Chapter 1: Cowboy Bebop, Richard flew him back to Anadac and left him with a sum of credits for his contributions to the team. * Maelyn Sylmaris: Feared crew member. Initially it seemed to Richard that Maelyn was one of the less concerning person he had hired. Though he quickly changed his opinion on the matter as Maelyn began to show her true abilities. Ever since then he's grown more and more concerned about her and how she may endanger the party, especially after she threatened to kill Alaska and Ren during Chapter 3: The Roundup. However since then tensions seem to have eased between the two, as they had no issue working together during Chapter 5: Conjugal Burns. * Ren Allsbrook: Crew member. Immediately Richard and Ren butted heads, as Ren grew more and more angry with him early on for Richard's tactics to not pay the group what he originally offered. The two faced off as the The Vagabond originally lifted off from Anadac, and Richard offered Ren the ultimate of staying with him and exploring space or returning to Anadac, splitting from the group, and receiving the initially promised sum of credits. Since then the two have continued to butt heads, and Richard almost kicked him off the crew after the events of Chapter 2: Welcome Home. However, similarly to Maelyn, tensions between the two have eased, as they too had no issues working together during Chapter 5: Conjugal Burns. * Inocencia Anasia: Former crew member. The two first met before the initial takeoff of The Vagabond, as the rest of the party had decided that she was worth taking with them. Because of these circumstances, Richard was immediately suspicious of Noelle, as she was only there due to other people's doings and not his own. Concerns grew heavily after she stole The Vagabond during Chapter 1: Ashes to Ashes. He threatened to remove her from the crew, only being talked down by Alaska, claiming that she could help Noelle with her "mental illness." After discovering that she had found his journal in which he documented his search for Mindy, he nearly killed her while she was defending Ren after the events of Chapter 2: Welcome Home, and would have likely done so if he wasn't talked down again by Alaska and Maelyn. Despite Noelle's best effort, the two never had the chance to grow close before Noelle's death. Allies * Arthur Kellen: Ally of The Vagabonds. Richard shows a sense of trust towards Kellen, allowing him to stay on The Vagabond after his guild was ransacked by the Sevlton police force. Enemies * Cortex: Object of deep content from Richard. Richard was unsure about Cortex's motives when first meeting him, but had no choice but to follow him in order to find out more information about Anadac. After Cortex revealed that he was using the party, Richard immediately became enraged with him, and if not for the circumstances, probably would have also tried to physically harm him, similar to how Alaska did. History Richard was born on Anadac. He had a mostly normal childhood, but a special love of exploring the outdoors. When it came time for him to find a job, he originally took the role of bodyguard for a local noble. But as the job proved to be uneventful, he trained himself more to go exploring, then left to join Erid Jackson's Guild of Explorers and Survivalists. It was there he learned cartography and took in job in that field. It was there he met Mindy Therren, who he would ultimately fall in love with. The two eventually were sent to explore The Frozen Pines, where Richard planned to profess his love to her. However, in a twist of events, Mindy disappeared in the woods and he was attacked by a creature that resembled her. After that, he spent weeks in the Pines looking for her to no avail. He then reemerged, not as Richard Arker, but as Gardwin. Gardwin then spent the next decade searching for his lost love, and writing books about his travels the entire time to make money. After exploring the entire planet to no results, he turned his eyes to the stars, an idea that originated from Mindy herself. He then decided to put out an ad to find a crew that may help him to get to space, on the off chance that she was somewhere out there. Trivia * Richard's backstory was largely inspired by the Red Vox song "''From the Stars" from their 2017 album ''Another Light. * Richard's appearance and aspects of his personality are largely based on his player, Zac. Category:Vagabonds Category:Player Characters